ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: titled vs entitled

Pter — Sat, 17 May 2008 16:31:03 GMT

Kooyeen
Type "book entitled" site:nytimes.com (exactly that, with quotation marks too)in the search box. Look at the number of results. Now check the other pages (at the bottom, click on 10, and then 19, etc. so as to check the following pages. Then you reach the last page. How many results are there now?

Hi Kooyeen,

I just posted an explanation of what you observed with the number of Google hits in another post --> readed?

Let me post it here again:

Google only gives you the first 1,000 search results for ANY search keyword. Within the first 1,000 search results, Google eliminates those pages that are exactly the same and as a result, you most probably can only get to nine hundred something. You may click the link at the bottom to perform the search again by including those duplicated search results, but yet, you can still only get to the 1,000th entry. This has nothing to do with the "inaccuracy" of the number of Google hits.
There are also other reasons that the number of Google hits may not match with the actual number of entries you can see. For example, in some countries, some entries are filtered out by Google.
I am not saying that the number of Google hits shown is really accurate. Google has also admitted that it is a rough estimate. Nobody (including Google) knows how accurate this estimate is but I think the number is still a useful reference. Treat it as some sort of first-cut results for further research.

Actually, you don't need to click on page 10, and then 19, etc. to get to the last page. Click page 10, check the URL and you should find "start=90" somewhere in the URL. Insert a "9" before "90" to make it "start=990" and press enter. It gets you directly to the last available page!

Kooyeen
No one cares about the number of results. Who searches Google to see the number of results? No one but some ESL learners. But Google is not an ESL tool. All the common internet users use Google to find what they are looking for, and no one cares about the number of results. Isn't it true? So if Google results are wrong, it's only a problem for learners... that's why Google doesn't care if the number of results is correct or not, and will never fix that.

People are using the number of Google hits for all sorts of things that you don't believe. Ever heard of a ring (the kind that you wear on your finger) that checks the number of Google hits of your name everyday and shows it to you? There are scientists who try to use the number of Google hits to determine the relationship between fame and merit of scientists. And Wikipedia also uses "Search Engine Test" as a reference in the process of updating the Wiki entries. See

Wikipedia:Search engine test

Re: titled vs entitled

Yoong Liat — Sat, 17 May 2008 13:23:23 GMT

Anonymous

Should it not be, "My mother and me are"?

It should be 'My mother and I are ...' You would say 'I and my mother ...' wouldn't you? So it is obvious, it should be 'My mother and I ...'

Re: titled vs entitled

Anonymous — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:31:42 GMT

Should it not be, "My mother and me are"?

Re: titled vs entitled

Anonymous — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:26:35 GMT

I wouldn't worry about it too much. The advice given above is sound, however. James

Re: titled vs entitled

Clive — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:25:46 GMT

Hi,

I'd view 'intitled' simply as a spelling error.

It's common to say 'A book called . . '

Best wishes, Clive

Re: titled vs entitled

Clive — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:22:04 GMT

Hi Kooyeen,

Thank you, I'll have to consider that.

Clive

Re: titled vs entitled

Feebs11 — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:25:16 GMT

I would avoid suggesting "intitle" which is not in general use.

Re: titled vs entitled

Cool Breeze — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:42:59 GMT

Hi YL

You have three options: a book titled/entitled/intitled "The Old Man And The Sea".

Re: titled vs entitled

Anonymous — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:53:38 GMT

titled

Re: titled vs entitled

Kooyeen — Sat, 19 May 2007 19:15:01 GMT

Clive wrote:
Hi guys,

The number of results Google gives you on the first page . . . could even be wrong by 10,000% sometimes

I didn't know this. Do you mean Google has an error in its actul counting? Can you please explain a bit more?

Thanks, Clive

Hi Clive,
yes, Google isn't supposed to give you the exact number of results, it isn't even supposed to actually give you the number of results. It is supposed to be a search engine, and to give you what you are searching for, not the number of results. No one cares about the number of results. Who searches Google to see the number of results? No one but some ESL learners. But Google is not an ESL tool. All the common internet users use Google to find what they are looking for, and no one cares about the number of results. Isn't it true? So if Google results are wrong, it's only a problem for learners... that's why Google doesn't care if the number of results is correct or not, and will never fix that. Now, look what Google actually do:

Type "book entitled" site:nytimes.com (exactly that, with quotation marks too)in the search box. Look at the number of results. Now check the other pages (at the bottom, click on 10, and then 19, etc. so as to check the following pages. Then you reach the last page. How many results are there now?

Now do the same with "me and my mother are" (exactly that). In this case it is wrong by approximately 4,500%.
Now try "I and my mother is", wrong by approximately 60,000%
If you compare these last two examples only by looking at the number of results on the first page, you will see that "I and my mother is" is more common than "me and my mother are". But that's not true, it's the the other way around.

So, for example, saying that A gets 1,500,000 hits and B gets 1,450,000 hits (results on the first page) and concluding that A and B are equally common, might be a big mistake.

That's cool, eh?

Re: titled vs entitled

Yoong Liat — Sat, 19 May 2007 16:14:33 GMT

Marius Hancu wrote:
I will continue to use Google as I please until they change it.

I believe Marius is correct. 'Titled' and 'entitled' can be used in American and British English, although I would say that BrE favours 'entitled'.

Re: titled vs entitled

Clive — Sat, 19 May 2007 14:49:58 GMT

Hi guys,

The number of results Google gives you on the first page . . . could even be wrong by 10,000% sometimes

I didn't know this. Do you mean Google has an error in its actul counting? Can you please explain a bit more?

Thanks, Clive

Re: titled vs entitled

Marius Hancu — Sat, 19 May 2007 11:33:05 GMT

I will continue to use Google as I please until they change it.

Re: titled vs entitled

Kooyeen — Sat, 19 May 2007 11:25:31 GMT

Marius Hancu wrote:
They are both used, but in BrE you may want to look at the BBC stats for relative frequency and use entitled:

158 from bbc.co.uk for "book titled" ---> 87
848 from bbc.co.uk for "book entitled" ---> 443

1,590 from nytimes.com for "book titled" ---> 268
1,220 from nytimes.com for "book entitled" ---> 242

Hi Marius,
I hope you don't mind if I correct your results. The number of results Google gives you on the first page is not relevant (it could even be wrong by 10,000% sometimes)
In this case there isn't much difference: in any case you can see that both "titled" and "entitled" are in use.

Re: titled vs entitled

Marius Hancu — Sat, 19 May 2007 11:02:31 GMT

They are both used, but in BrE you may want to look at the BBC stats for relative frequency and use entitled:

158 from bbc.co.uk for "book titled"
848 from bbc.co.uk for "book entitled"

1,590 from nytimes.com for "book titled"
1,220 from nytimes.com for "book entitled"